In its quest to encourage recycling and thereby reduce the amount of solid waste that must be shipped to an off-Cape incinerator, the town’s renewable energy commission heard this week from a neighbor who’s had some success in doing that.

“It is only been in operation for a little over a month, but the initial figures we have received are very encouraging,” Paul Tilton, Sandwich’s DPW director and town engineer said of his community’s pay-as-you-throw trash bag purchase requirement. “I think that most residents are still trying to figure how to make the new system work best for them. But for the most part, it looks like it will be a success.”

With a pay-as-you-throw system, residents who use the Sandwich transfer station can get rid of recyclables free of charge but have to buy specially-marked bags for solid waste. The bags range in size and price, running a quarter to just under a dollar each. Before implementing the system, the town cut its sticker fee by about a half, to $55 a year. It’s estimated a family of four would use about three bags per week, for an additional annual cost of $127.

The Barnstable commission is interested in ways to reduce the waste shipped to the SEMASS incinerator because the town’s contract will run out in 2015. It’s expected that the per-ton tipping fee will rise significantly, tripling and perhaps quadrupling.

Currently. the tipping fee to get rid of the town’s trash is $37, which equates to roughly a $168,000 a year. This figures is artificially low due in fact that Subsidies and grants that are expected to end, some as early as 2013, underwrite the majority of actual costs for Barnstable and other Cape towns. It is estimated that starting in 2015 the tipping fee could rise to over $100 per ton, which would mean the town of Barnstable will have to shoulder upwards of $800,000 per year to take its trash out.

The greatest impact to lower those numbers is an increase in recycling, which drastically reduces the amount of solid waste that needs to be disposed of. The common materials that can be recycled are glass, plastic, paper, and metals. If you include extracting organic food waste by composting it, the amount of solid waste generated by a household can be reduced by as much as 75 percent.

In Sandwich, Tilton said, bags are sold at vendors around town such as convenience stores and hardware stores; there is even a car wash that is selling the bags. The vendors are not allowed to make a profit. nor are the bags taxed. Most vendors see the benefit of selling the blue plastic bags with the town’s emblem emblazed on it as a way to create foot traffic.

“We have had a few problems with vendors trying to make a profit. but we have talked to them,” said Tilton. “In most cases, it was just a miscommunication problem.”

Communication seems to be the key to the whole program’s success, not only for the vendors who help distribute the bags, but the residents of the town as well.

“I strongly suggest that whatever program you implement that you start early with the education process,” said Tilton. “You must point out the financial benefits to both the town and the users. Showing the people how the system will actually reduce their household costs for trash removal is important.”

In the first month of pay-as-you-throw, Tilton said, the amount of co-mingled recyclables taken in has risen to roughly 74 percent, and solid waste has dropped 48 percent.

“I see a lot of people who never thought once about recycling now becoming extremely good at it,” Tilton said. “They are finding that it’s not as much work as they thought it would be. Some residents who I thought would be the hardest to convert to the idea are finding it not only saves them money, it’s also fun.”

Tilton says the town hasn’t seen a rise in illegal dumping. “There are always those who sometimes try to throw their trash where they aren’t supposed to,” the DPW head said. “It’s amazing, though. People who do that are not very good at covering their tracks. We almost always are able to catch and fine them.”

In parting Tilton advised the commission that it shouldn’t be trying to “reinvent the wheel” as there are plenty of examples, including his town, on which to model Barnstable’s plan.

The commission will discuss curb-side pick-up and any variations on that theme at its September meeting.